Category Archives: Science Fiction

[Pitch Pecking] Would you read it? –Vote!–

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When Madison Woods asked us if we’d be interested in taking over her hands-down-one-of-the-best-ways-to-get-real-reader-feedback series, “Vote for it”. Of course we said “Yes!”

Every week, Madison gave her blog over to a 25-word elevator pitch sent in by an author. Readers of her blog had the opportunity to vote for whether the 25-word blurb made them curious or not about the book. Would they buy it?

“Authors, what we’re measuring is reader interpretation. What does someone think of your book when they read your short blurb? Does it make them want to buy it or at least read further? Editors and publishers may look at these blurbs differently, but ultimately, they’re readers too.” (Madison Woods)

So what happens now? Read the pitch/blurb below and then vote if you think you’d be interested enough buy the book. Though the voting is anonymous, leave a comment and help the author get a sense of what’s working and what isn’t! Continue reading →

[Pitch Pecking] Would you buy it? –Vote!–

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A couple weeks back, Madison Woods stopped by and asked us if we’d be interested in taking over her hands-down-one-of-the-best-ways-to-get-real-reader-feedback series, “Vote for it”. Of course we said “Yes!”

Every week, Madison gave her blog over to a 25-word elevator pitch sent in by an author. Readers of her blog had the opportunity to vote for whether the 25-word blurb made them curious or not about the book. Would they buy such a book?  Though the voting is anonymous, many readers opted to leave a comment too, helping the author get a sense of what was working and what wasn’t. And we are honored and excited to continue the tradition.

“Authors, what we’re measuring is reader interpretation. What does someone think of your book when they read your short blurb? Does it make them want to buy it or at least read further? Editors and publishers may look at these blurbs differently, but ultimately, they’re readers too.” (Madison Woods)

So what happens now? Read the pitch/blurb below and then vote if you think you’d be interested enough buy the book. If you have constructive crit to offer, share it in comments below! Continue reading →

[Small Chirp] Sneak peek at the next book in my favorite-love-to-hate series

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To everyone, even those who don’t know my long love-to-hate relationship with the books, I refer to Pittacus Lore’s series exclusively as IAmSexy Number Four. There is a whole legion of very confused people wandering around the Midwest trying to find such an excellently titled series. Sometimes they actually stumble upon the real books and, after reading the first, they say, “Meg, this is utterly terrible. Why did you make them sound so good?”

And I always tell them, “Wait, read the second one. It gets better.”

And that, canaries, is how I lose friends. Continue reading →

[ Series Review ] Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

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An arch-criminal, fairy cop, and butler bodyguard walk into a plot.

With the eighth Artemis Fowl book coming out in July, I have a perfect excuse to revisit one of my favorite YA series. These books are a whole lot of fun and perfect for anyone who loves an anti-hero protagonist in its YA, a whole lot of plotting and action, and a story that takes a classic concept (like fairies) and spins it on its head.

Since it was published, the Artemis Fowl series has sold over 8 million copies and has been listed among the People Magazine Top 10 Book Series for 2004. No surprise. Continue reading →

[ Small Chirp ] Making a comeback–Artemis Fowl

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I was in line at a coffee shop when I got a book-reading tip from my dino-headed canary friend. There was an eighth Artemis Fowl book coming out,  the text message informed me.

“Whaaaat?” I said.

“Your coffee, ma’am,” the guy at the register explained, but that did nothing to clear up my confusion. An eighth book? I thought the Artemis story arc was over with the seventh book?

Then excitement set in. The Artemis Fowl series had it all–wit, adventure, brilliant and vivid characters, and a fun dose of plot action. And now, the series just might be making a comeback with Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian (July 2012). Continue reading →

[Small Chirp] Making an Impression: Beauty in The Hunger Games

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First off, I cannot give Suzanne Collins enough kudos for creating Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of the Hunger Games trilogy. It’s like the woman went to Mary Sue Academy and made a point of reversing everything. Katniss is strong, interesting, and flawed all over the place: she’s not particularly friendly or charming, resists being thrust into place as a political symbol, is uncomfortable with guys liking her, and (gasp) isn’t even particularly pretty. Just about the only thing going for her is she’s not clumsy, right?

I kid, I kid. Katniss is gutsy and devoted and actually takes the time to think about whether what she does is justified or justifiable, and I love her.

What I was curious about, though, was how the filmmakers would treat the issue of beauty–and lack of it–in their adaptation.The books make a special point of paying attention to appearance. The superficiality of the Capitol comes out through outlandish fashion and extravagant food, and the brutality of the Games is even creepier in light of it. And of course, as I mentioned, the fact that neither Katniss nor Peeta is gorgeous is incredibly refreshing in the piles of books about pretty girls and their attractive crushes.  I tend to be out of the loop on trailers and such, so the only image I had of Jennifer Lawrence and the other actors going in was a movie poster I saw that was all moody and cheekbone-y. Great, I thought. It’s going to be The Help all over again, where the costumers for Emma Stone read “uncontrollable frizz” and decide to go with “flawless corkscrew curls that I would kill to have.” Continue reading →

[ Best and Worst ] Best Book of All Time–And I’m Not Gonna Tell You!

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Although this post is part of tCR’s excellent “Best and Worst” series, I’ll neither give you my best nor my worst read. It’s simply impossible. It can’t be done. Forget it.

My all-time best read is impossible to pick because, dear readers, I’ve grown old and my memory has faded. Or is that just an excuse? Perhaps it’s a commitment issue?

And the worst book is impossible to pick because frankly, if I really don’t like it, I don’t read it.

Here’s what I am going to do… I’m going to admit to something totally embarrassing. Much more embarrassing than just reading bad books. I’m going to admit to what kind of books I read that I actually really, really enjoy! Continue reading →

Best and Worst: Finding (a Red Tree at) the End of the World

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Reading is an experience. I have fond memories of re-reading James Joyce’s Ulysses while sitting in St Stephen’s Green and the delightful coincidence of being introduced to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged while travelling the USA by train. Name a book I’ve read, and I can tell you about the when and where. Choosing the best and worst reads came down to choosing the best and worst reading experience, which is why I’m going to do it backwards. My Worst Read Ever is seriously depressing, so let’s get that out of the way first:

Feed by M. T. Anderson

In 2011, I read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction for my studies in Children’s Literature. Spending a year reading books about various ways the world ends and how we’ll be left rotting in a dystopian landscape definitely does something to a person. It was Feed that left me crying for weeks whenever I saw anything that even remotely reminded me of the characters and world constructed in the novel.

Feed is set in an eerie imagined future in which corporations run everything (including SchoolTM), advertising is everywhere – including in your head – and language is coming to… you know… that thing…

Told from the first-person perspective, it tells the story of adolescents in an apathetic world driven by consumerism. If you’re not a consumer, then what use are you to society? Titus, the main character, reflects that the power of the corporations isn’t ideal “because who knows what evil shit they’re up to? Everyone feels bad about that. But they’re the only way to get all this stuff, and it’s no good getting pissy about it, because they’re still going to control everything whether you like it or not”.

Which begs the question: at what point do we stand up and say “hang on, I don’t need this, and you can’t keep doing what you’re doing?”

As the world of Feed deteriorates, so do the people. Physically, their bodies decay – the severity of which is concealed through excellent media campaigns making it “cool” to have lesions. Emotionally, they struggle to express themselves as society gradually loses the ability to construct meaning through language.

Scared yet? Then you should probably get your hands on the book I’ve chosen as my Best Read Ever, instead. Continue reading →

[ Small Chirp ] Katniss: Heroine or Anti-hero?

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I’ve heard it bandied about that Katniss, the main character and narrator of The Hunger Games, is no heroine. In fact, some sources claim that she is an anti-heroine. This vexes me. I don’t pretend Katniss is above reproach, but I know that she’s a hero–better yet, she’s the hero for her world and people. She’s their only viable option.

“Wait, there are options?” you ask… Yep. There’s a triumvirate of viable characters just waiting to be the hero: Peeta, Gale, and Katniss.

Peeta:

For purists who are looking at for the “Shining White Knight” as their hero du jour, there is Peeta. He is merciful, kind, humane and always does the right thing – regardless of the consequences. Even after Peeta is captured and imprisoned, when he has an opportunity to warn the rebels (and Katniss) of an impending attack, he does so. He is beaten and tortured as a result, but despite the consequences, he took the moment to do the right thing. See that bloody pulp on the ground? There’s your classic hero. Continue reading →

[ Advance Review ] Not your usual Cinder(ella)

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Meg’s Advance Review of Cinder by Marissa Meyer

(Book One of the Lunar Chronicles)

Cinder is just about as schizophrenic as a book can get. As the story opens, the beginning reads like a checklist, making sure each Cinderella plot-point is whacked hard: Terrible stepmother? Check. Pumpkin-like car? Check. Not only that, each let’s-explain-the-world info-dump makes the foreshadowing so obvious it’s almost laughable.

And then, the magical halfway point happens, and the book veers from sort-of-silly-and-predictable romance and takes a hard right into thriller territory. Good thriller territory. From that point on, it is an absolute race to find the resolution on the final page.

(There isn’t one, by the way. This is this first in a quartet of books, and Marissa Meyer leaves a nice callback of a cliffhanger for the reader to stew on.)

I would wager a guess that the one aspect that holds Cinder back the most is its prime selling point: the plot is billed as a retelling of the classic Cinderella story set in a futuristic Beijing. The futuristic Bejing part is fun. Cinder, the main character, is a cyborg, which, in this universe, means she’s the scum of the Earth. But hey, at least she’s above the scum of the Moon, a now colonized planetoid. The setting is far enough in the future that Lunars have evolved special powers of mind-manipulation. Suffice it to say, everyone on Earth pretty much hates them.

The Cinderella part of the plot is completely unnecessary, however, especially as it’s ditched by the halfway point and only picked up again (very well, actually) near the very end. The book would have been much stronger had it compeltely left out the Cinderella bits and just let it be about a cyborg falling in love with a prince. Cinder was a case of doing a re-telling halfway rather than diving in whole hog. It makes the whole over-arching tone of the first half feel sloppy.

But even with my issues with the first 150 pages, I had no problems picking up the book and reading on. Meyer has a lovely narrative style and she’s created an intriguing character in Cinder. There were moments when the romance storyline could have taken a nosedive into Twilight territory, but she always reigned in it, giving us a heroine who is smart, funny, brave and more than a little awkward in a way that is positively endearing.

I also enjoyed the way the male lead was written. Prince Kai is poised to take over the ruling regime and instead of the current trend of down-with-government stories, Meyer presents us with a leader who is committed to do what is best for his people, to create a government that is determined to eradicate the threat of  plagues (a real illness and then the plague that is the Lunar Queen).  It was positively refreshing to read about a non-corrupt leader.

I have come all this way without talking about plot. To be honest, it’s a little difficult to be concise enough to not blow all the twists out of the water. A close reader will have figured out pretty much all (but one) out by the first 100 pages anyway, so let’s give it a shot: On the same day that the prince visits Cinder’s mechanics kiosk, her (not evil) stepsister falls victim to a plague that has no cure. When Cinder is enlisted (against her will) into the cyborg draft for plague experiments, she discovers that she is immune. But the immunity means she is still in grave danger, just not from the plague.

By the end of the book I was sorely disappointed that there was no sequel simply waiting for me. The final page sets up a Book 2 that is sure to further develop an already complex world—and to take us far, far away from any Cinderella pretense. Both of those things should make for a winner. So even though the beginning knocked this book down to a three-canary rating, I whole-hearted recommend Cinder to anyone who enjoys a good YA (or sci-fi/cyborg) read. Just be prepared to start pining for more as soon as you reach the back cover.

Cinder will hit bookstores January 3, 2012.

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